Molly thinks she did pretty well on the Counterpoint I exam, thanks to coaching from Pamela and Anna. Counterpoint I covers the first species only, note for note counterpoint in two voices.
Pedagogy at Old Ivy is nothing if not exhaustive. The exam consists of a number of musical snippets which the student must mark either as correct or incorrect, and if incorrect identify the error; a successful student understands the rules of counterpoint, which are precisely enumerated and not subject to debate. The process is tedious, and "creative" students sometimes rebel, to which Mr. Albrechtsberger simply points out that Beethoven and Schubert wrote their greatest music after studying counterpoint, so unless the student has already published music as great as Beethoven's later works she should either get with the program or get out.
With exams finished, Roderick, Molly and Anna load their stuff in the Roadmaster and prepare to head for home. Meanwhile, Mr. Smith awakes in Derbyton, home of the annual Julep Derby. Once a year, all of the beautiful people gather in Derbyton for the running of the thoroughbreds. Women wear funny hats, mint juleps are served, and life pauses for two minutes of intense excitement.
The rest of the year, Derbyton is a dump in the middle of nowhere.
Mr. Smith meets with two clients today. The first is Delicious! Brands, parent company of the global fast food franchises Gangbanger Chicken, El Sombrero Tacos and Cosa Nostra Pizza. In the afternoon, he meets with Kopay Health Care, a leading health insurance provider. He thinks it's funny that Derbyton is the home of fast food chains and a health insurance company.
After meeting with Kopay, Mr. Smith drives the ninety-six miles to Porkopolis. The Interstate highway parallels the Sumbig River (upon which both cities are located). The Sumbig River was named by some fur traders exploring America's wilderness in the early 1700s. Exiting a forest in pursuit of beaver pelts, the explorers happened upon a great body of water and exclaimed "Hey! That's some big river!" The expedition's mapmaker duly noted this.
Porkopolis was a great pig-slaughtering city in the Nineteenth Century (hence the nickname of "Lard City"). Tomorrow, Mr. Smith meets with Fashion Plate, the famous eyewear retailer whose Porkopolis location owes little to economic logic and much to special tax incentives. Unfortunately, the local instances of the Unique Hotel chain, Mr. Smith's favorite home away from home are all sold out. Instead, Mr. Smith stays at Vertigo Suites, the chain whose signature architecture is suites stacked around a vast atrium and accessed by "bubble" elevators and a narrow catwalk with see-through railings.
"I've upgraded you to the top floor," says the desk clerk, brightly. Mr. Smith blanches and, white-knuckled, clutches his overnight bag as the glass-walled elevator whisks him to the top of the atrium. Creeping along the catwalk, back pressed to the wall, Mr. Smith tries to avoid looking down or thinking about the fact that he is currently walking along a cantilevered concrete platform about three feet wide that could come crashing down at any moment, taking him along with it.
Meanwhile, Roderick, Molly and Anna drive home in the Roadmaster. Molly and Roderick decide against stopping along the way to do in the back seat what people do in the back seat of Roadmasters, for several reasons:
(1) Anna is sitting in it.
(2) Molly doesn't think it sounds very comfortable.
(3) Roderick wants to keep that "new car" smell.
In any case, they decided it would be much better to "do it" at home, in their nice comfortable beds, and not in the presence of Anna.
Plus, there is no hurry. They won't be twenty-one for two and a half years, or so.
